Assault Dieres - Mercenary Egyptian Infantry

With a ramming attack that can break an enemy hull, these ships are deadly weapons.

Mercenaries, used to hardship on campaign, are always a sound investment.

The waterline ram was first mounted on a vessel in around 850BC. Warships and naval tactics were transformed. Ships were no longer platforms for infantry battles on the water; the ship itself became the weapon. Galleys changed as the new reality sank in. Ramming at speed would hole and sink an enemy, therefore slimmer, faster, handier ships were required. More speed on demand obviously required more oars a fast ship with a single row of oars ended up being stupidly, impractically long. The solution, then, was to put in a second set of oars above the first, but slightly offset to allow for rowers' benches. These biremes, a Latin word meaning 'two oars', or dieres, the Greek equivalent, were no longer than previous designs but had twice the number of rowers. They were fast, manoeuvrable, and could carry a fighting contingent. Some nations also gave their bireme crews fire pots; these clay pots filled with oil and pitch were hurled at enemy ships in the entirely reasonable hope of setting them ablaze.

(Mercenary Egyptian Infantry)Native troops supported the Greek phalanxes of Ptolemaic Egypt. Brave and proud warriors, Egyptians fulfilled several roles, but were most commonly used as peltasts, skirmishers on the flanks of the phalanxes, or as non-phalanx infantry in difficult terrain. Although the Ptolemies adopted all the trappings of the Pharaohs and their religious infrastructure, there was still much unrest among the native population long after the succession. This was due mainly to the way the Greek overlords used the traditions of the Pharaohs to fill their coffers at the expensive of ordinary people. The core of Ptolemaic armies was always Greek until the Battle of Raphia in 217BC, when they faced such a large Seleucid force and Ptolemy IV was forced to muster some 30,000 native Egyptians for the first time. Need overcame the suspicion of the disenchanted natives; the performance of the Egyptians in battle eventually led to a greater proportion of native troops in the Egyptian army and, in time, more diverse roles for those men as they gained the trust of their Greek commanders.

Unit Name

Assault Dieres - Mercenary Egyptian Infantry

Main Unit Key

Mer_Egy_Nile_Barge

Land Unit Key

Mer_Egy_Inf

Naval Unit Key

egyptian_two

Soldiers

60

Category

Light Ship

Class

Melee Ship

Custom Battle Cost

350

Recruitment Cost

350

Upkeep Cost

260

Missile Damage

32

├ Missile Weapon

rome_javelin_precursor

├ Projectile

javelin_prec

├ Missile Damage

20

├ Missile Ap Damage

12

└ Base Reload Time

15

Accuracy

5

Range

40

Reload

0

Shots Per Minute

4

Ammunition

2

Ship Health

501

└ Ship

egyptian_two

Ship Speed

7

Melee Attack

16

Weapon Damage

24

├ Melee Weapon

rome_shortsword

├ Melee Damage Base

20

├ Melee Damage Ap

4

├ Armour Piercing

No

├ Bonus vs. Large

0

├ Bonus vs Elephants

0

└ Bonus vs Infantry

0

Charge Bonus

8

Melee Defence

46

├ Base Defence

16

├ Shield

celtic

└ Shield Defence

30

Armour

55

├ Armour

padded

├ Armour Defence

20

└ Shield Armour

35

Health

45

├ Man Entity

rome_infantry_medium

├ Man Health

40

└ Bonus Hit Points

5

Base Morale

30

Abilities

Assault Dieres

Row Hard 10Increases speed for 10 strokes.Ship speed

Attributes

Hide (forest)This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.